Zahhak
2012-10-27, 01:11 AM
Sorry, cannot think of a better title for this.
Anyways, For the last few years I have off-and-on working on a world. Well, actually, I've built a few worlds. The first one I completely abandoned when I realized how stupid it was. Since then I've made a few worlds in some way, usually restricted to initial research in some area, and then ended up giving up. Now, I've got this thing for reality in my RP to varying degrees. Because of this I'm taking my knowledge of physical geography to its insane conclusion: I will be making a map of ocean and air movement, and expected long-term weather and natural disasters (where will there be earthquakes naturally occurring?)
But, it is a fantasy game, so some crazy crap still has to happen. Here is what I'm thinking so far:
There was once one world, and one race, and no gods. And then they came: The Deep Gods. They were cruel and violent. They demanded sacrifice, and would decimate villages that did not. Somehow, some managed to leach power from the Deep Gods and became gods themselves, called the Old Gods. The Old Gods quickly outnumbered the Deep Gods a hundred to a dozen. Confident, the Old Gods went to war with the Deep Gods for a thousand years of mass murder. Unfortunately, none of the Old Gods were able to outright kill the Deep Gods, but they did manage to force them into a state of hibernation under the oceans. And for awhile, everything was pretty good.
Unfortunately, some started to worry that the Deep Gods would rise and seek their revenge. So, the Old Gods gathered a dozen or so per member and made them into gods, called the New Gods. After a few centuries to make sure the New Gods could run things, and then they left to try to find where the Deep Gods came from. And then, things got weird. Soon after the Old Gods left, the world broke into 6 spheres of similar size, and settled themselves on a single orbit. As the worlds drifted around over the millennia, the history of the one world became lost, forgotten, or turned into myth and legend. The New Gods insisting that that was what happened was cast on largely deaf ears.
Time and different conditions led to speciation among the Protos. From the cold north came the Orcs, the temperate mid-latitude regions bring Humans and Halflings, from the tropic equator came Elves and Gnomes, and from the arid regions came the Dwarves. All names are what they are called by the Humans.
Relatively recently the elves found a way to travel between the planets, they found the ethereal plane. The thousand years since worlds were reunited has been enough time for the initial extreme paranoia and hatred to calm down. Unfortunately, other things have shown up since then, called "Devils" by the Humans. No one is really sure where they came from or what they want, but they show up from parts unknown (often staying at temporary camps for days or weeks to deal with anyone who might be following them), orchestrate highly coordinated and vicious attacks, and have apparently been intentionally leaving witnesses. Some are worried that they are a symptom of the movement of the continents rousing the Deep Gods from their slumber. But, what is known is that after their attacks they drift into the ethereal plane and vanish. Possibly to some deeper plane.
Cosmology and Gods:
The world is not actually a single world, as I said, but there are other planes. Well, sort of. They are all a series of planets which all sit on the top of the ethereal plane. Except for one thing: The sun is not a star. It just acts exactly like one, and it does another thing. A kind of big thing. It's the Soul Forge, where souls are made (holy crap, I'd have never guessed!).
Speaking of the Soul Forge, here's how magic works (to be repeated elsewhere). So, mages, unlike others, can rip chunks of their soul out and use it as a weapon. They do this either by directly turning into some kind of energy, or by using it as a catalyst to change other objects around them into different objects (think a cross between DBZ's energy waves, Bleach's Kido, and FMA's Alchemy). Now, mages can this because they can basically re-grow their soul.
A more broad thing about the Soul Forge is that it makes gods more powerful and makes new gods. It does this because when a humanoid is a born a piece of the sun goes into their body, and when they die it goes to the god or entity they worshiped in life. This has the effect making new gods from former mortals, called the Child Gods, some of whom were already dead when they were made gods. So, most of the Child Gods are actually incorporeal. The Soul Forge making gods also has some interesting effects. There are plenty of animists who made a god from nothing but their collective souls. These various gods who are made from nothing but souls are extremely powerful, even compared to the New Gods, and are the embodiment of the thing they represent. So, there is a god of animals, the moon, the sun, etc. These are called the "Rogue Gods"
Notes on the gods:
* The Deep Gods: Yes, some people do actually worship them. Not openly though.
* The Old Gods: While gone, many take the basic position that they are the only true gods, the New Gods are nothing but their regents, the Child Gods are angels, and the Rogue Gods are abominations. Granted, the Old Gods have no real theology, so the worshipers of the Old Gods tend to be essentially atheists.
* The New Gods: They split themselves and followed the continents as they drifted. Their children, and grandchildren, and great grandchildren, are of a power similar to their own and so are also called New Gods. They are tribalists and are more concerned with the preservation of the tribe or state that worships them then they are concerned with anything else. So, they don't have the same portfolios as gods like how most DnD gods have them.
* The Child Gods: Since they are risen mortals, they come in the full range of personality and portfolios, from tribalists to representatives of some specific ideology. The Child Gods are the least powerful of the gods, but also tend to be the most involved in worldly affairs, so they tend to be most worshiped by mortals.
* The Rogue Gods: They represent something specific: animals, the sun, the moon, life, death, time, math. They are more powerful then New Gods, and maybe as powerful as the Old Gods. But, they are almost completely uninvolved in mortal affairs, so are mostly worshiped by adventurers who hope to curry their favor by being potentially valuable souls. This doesn't normally work.
Now, sometimes the gods die, and the collected souls returns to the Soul Forge, as does the souls of those who don't worship anything. What will happen if the Soul Forge ever dries out, or where the souls in it come from is anyone's guess.
Religious Philosophies:
There are still groups who could be called "atheists" in this world. This is essentially the perspective that while there are quite obviously godlike entities in this world, the fact that some have been shown to get old and die (over a few dozen millennia, but still) leads some to believe that they are not truly gods, but essentially exceptionally powerful magic users. There are also those who are essentially agnostic: they recognize the arguments of the atheists, but take no real stand either way. There is a school of thought within the "atheists" who believe that there is a god, but that none of the deities on the world are the actual god. These groups, almost always small and unorganized, are referred to "gnostics".
Monolatrism, the view that there is more then one god, but focusing on worshiping on.
At this point, I'm tired, so I'm going to call it here. I am planning on using this to post crap as it comes to me/I develop it. I'm posting this so that I will hopefully feel motivated/brow beaten into keeping working on it.
Anyways, For the last few years I have off-and-on working on a world. Well, actually, I've built a few worlds. The first one I completely abandoned when I realized how stupid it was. Since then I've made a few worlds in some way, usually restricted to initial research in some area, and then ended up giving up. Now, I've got this thing for reality in my RP to varying degrees. Because of this I'm taking my knowledge of physical geography to its insane conclusion: I will be making a map of ocean and air movement, and expected long-term weather and natural disasters (where will there be earthquakes naturally occurring?)
But, it is a fantasy game, so some crazy crap still has to happen. Here is what I'm thinking so far:
There was once one world, and one race, and no gods. And then they came: The Deep Gods. They were cruel and violent. They demanded sacrifice, and would decimate villages that did not. Somehow, some managed to leach power from the Deep Gods and became gods themselves, called the Old Gods. The Old Gods quickly outnumbered the Deep Gods a hundred to a dozen. Confident, the Old Gods went to war with the Deep Gods for a thousand years of mass murder. Unfortunately, none of the Old Gods were able to outright kill the Deep Gods, but they did manage to force them into a state of hibernation under the oceans. And for awhile, everything was pretty good.
Unfortunately, some started to worry that the Deep Gods would rise and seek their revenge. So, the Old Gods gathered a dozen or so per member and made them into gods, called the New Gods. After a few centuries to make sure the New Gods could run things, and then they left to try to find where the Deep Gods came from. And then, things got weird. Soon after the Old Gods left, the world broke into 6 spheres of similar size, and settled themselves on a single orbit. As the worlds drifted around over the millennia, the history of the one world became lost, forgotten, or turned into myth and legend. The New Gods insisting that that was what happened was cast on largely deaf ears.
Time and different conditions led to speciation among the Protos. From the cold north came the Orcs, the temperate mid-latitude regions bring Humans and Halflings, from the tropic equator came Elves and Gnomes, and from the arid regions came the Dwarves. All names are what they are called by the Humans.
Relatively recently the elves found a way to travel between the planets, they found the ethereal plane. The thousand years since worlds were reunited has been enough time for the initial extreme paranoia and hatred to calm down. Unfortunately, other things have shown up since then, called "Devils" by the Humans. No one is really sure where they came from or what they want, but they show up from parts unknown (often staying at temporary camps for days or weeks to deal with anyone who might be following them), orchestrate highly coordinated and vicious attacks, and have apparently been intentionally leaving witnesses. Some are worried that they are a symptom of the movement of the continents rousing the Deep Gods from their slumber. But, what is known is that after their attacks they drift into the ethereal plane and vanish. Possibly to some deeper plane.
Cosmology and Gods:
The world is not actually a single world, as I said, but there are other planes. Well, sort of. They are all a series of planets which all sit on the top of the ethereal plane. Except for one thing: The sun is not a star. It just acts exactly like one, and it does another thing. A kind of big thing. It's the Soul Forge, where souls are made (holy crap, I'd have never guessed!).
Speaking of the Soul Forge, here's how magic works (to be repeated elsewhere). So, mages, unlike others, can rip chunks of their soul out and use it as a weapon. They do this either by directly turning into some kind of energy, or by using it as a catalyst to change other objects around them into different objects (think a cross between DBZ's energy waves, Bleach's Kido, and FMA's Alchemy). Now, mages can this because they can basically re-grow their soul.
A more broad thing about the Soul Forge is that it makes gods more powerful and makes new gods. It does this because when a humanoid is a born a piece of the sun goes into their body, and when they die it goes to the god or entity they worshiped in life. This has the effect making new gods from former mortals, called the Child Gods, some of whom were already dead when they were made gods. So, most of the Child Gods are actually incorporeal. The Soul Forge making gods also has some interesting effects. There are plenty of animists who made a god from nothing but their collective souls. These various gods who are made from nothing but souls are extremely powerful, even compared to the New Gods, and are the embodiment of the thing they represent. So, there is a god of animals, the moon, the sun, etc. These are called the "Rogue Gods"
Notes on the gods:
* The Deep Gods: Yes, some people do actually worship them. Not openly though.
* The Old Gods: While gone, many take the basic position that they are the only true gods, the New Gods are nothing but their regents, the Child Gods are angels, and the Rogue Gods are abominations. Granted, the Old Gods have no real theology, so the worshipers of the Old Gods tend to be essentially atheists.
* The New Gods: They split themselves and followed the continents as they drifted. Their children, and grandchildren, and great grandchildren, are of a power similar to their own and so are also called New Gods. They are tribalists and are more concerned with the preservation of the tribe or state that worships them then they are concerned with anything else. So, they don't have the same portfolios as gods like how most DnD gods have them.
* The Child Gods: Since they are risen mortals, they come in the full range of personality and portfolios, from tribalists to representatives of some specific ideology. The Child Gods are the least powerful of the gods, but also tend to be the most involved in worldly affairs, so they tend to be most worshiped by mortals.
* The Rogue Gods: They represent something specific: animals, the sun, the moon, life, death, time, math. They are more powerful then New Gods, and maybe as powerful as the Old Gods. But, they are almost completely uninvolved in mortal affairs, so are mostly worshiped by adventurers who hope to curry their favor by being potentially valuable souls. This doesn't normally work.
Now, sometimes the gods die, and the collected souls returns to the Soul Forge, as does the souls of those who don't worship anything. What will happen if the Soul Forge ever dries out, or where the souls in it come from is anyone's guess.
Religious Philosophies:
There are still groups who could be called "atheists" in this world. This is essentially the perspective that while there are quite obviously godlike entities in this world, the fact that some have been shown to get old and die (over a few dozen millennia, but still) leads some to believe that they are not truly gods, but essentially exceptionally powerful magic users. There are also those who are essentially agnostic: they recognize the arguments of the atheists, but take no real stand either way. There is a school of thought within the "atheists" who believe that there is a god, but that none of the deities on the world are the actual god. These groups, almost always small and unorganized, are referred to "gnostics".
Monolatrism, the view that there is more then one god, but focusing on worshiping on.
At this point, I'm tired, so I'm going to call it here. I am planning on using this to post crap as it comes to me/I develop it. I'm posting this so that I will hopefully feel motivated/brow beaten into keeping working on it.